1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to read/write heads used within computer disk drives and the like, and more particularly but not by way of limitation, to magnetic heads with ferrite cores disposed adjacent a side surface of the head in a winding slot.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the use of highspeed disk drives, read/write heads have been configured to have an aerodynamic shape such that the heads float or "fly" above the surface of the spinning disks. With the advance of disk drive technology it has been been found that read/write heads with a ferrite core disposed adjacent one surface of the head are preferable in certain applications. One advantage of this head design is that placement of the core in close proximity to a side edge of the head makes more of the outer periphery of the disk available for data storage.
Such prior art read/write heads usually include a transverse slot extending across the entire width of the head body to provide clearance for the core winding adjacent the end of the head arm connected to the head body. This is depicted in the accompanying drawings by the bottom plan view of a typical prior art read/write head shown in FIG. 1. An example of such a prior art head is taught in Japanese Patent Document No. 10 74103. It has been found that the core winding can contact the head arm and thereby cause an electrical short, resulting in an inoperative read/write head.
Another disadvantage of the above described prior art magnetic heads is that the transverse slot provided for the coil winding can substantially weaken the head to the extent that the manufacturing process necessary to complete the head, such as lapping same to comply with the critical specification dimensions required for stable performance, is very difficult. The reason for this is that the heads are often very small, sometimes less than 0.050 inches thick, and a transverse slot sufficiently large to receive the coil winding can diminish the effective thickness of the head, making increased head thickness, also objectionable, the only way to maintain adequate head strength.
Another disadvantage of the read/write heads described above is that the read/write heads are configured to operate either above the top or below the bottom of the disk surface; that is, two separate read/write head configurations are required because of the necessity of placing the aerodynamically configured rails on one surface to permit the read/write head to "fly" away from the surface of the spinning disk.
There exists a need for a read/write head that eliminates the problems of core winding shorting against the head arm while retaining adequate head strength. Further, there is a need for a read/write head that can be utilized for both above and below disk applications. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,158,847 to Polkrabek, 3,292,168 to D'Alessandro et al., 4,506,307 to Watrous and 4,514,776 to Koyama et al. disclose various configurations of read/write heads for use with disk drives and the like. While such read/write heads accomplish certain of the same functions as that of the present invention, none includes an off-center vertical slot and an angled horizontal slot into which is inserted a transducer core. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,237,280 to Manders, 3,238,603 to Curtis et al. and 4,402,025 to Anderson et al. disclose read/write heads each of which includes an angled slot to retain a transducer core; however, none of these patents discloses an off-center vertical slot and an angled horizontal slot into which is inserted as transducer core. These features are significant in overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art read/write heads.